Gus Dean; GREE Racing focused as ever heading to Pocono Raceway

LONG POND, Pa. –Everything that quite possibly could have happened to sophomore ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards driver Gus Dean (@GusDean) and his Win-Tron Racing team this season has happened.

From accidents to a mechanical failure and their latest obstacle with an ailing engine this past Thursday night at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Dean heads to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for Friday afternoon’s General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 hoping his dues have been paid and he contends for a win at the Tricky Triangle.

“Hopefully, finally the monkey is off our back this weekend at Pocono,” said Dean, driver of the No. 32 GREE Cooling Products | Baker Distributing Chevrolet. “We had a really good car at Pocono but were at the end of the race – fighting for a top-five we had some motor fatigue – which we later found out we were competing over 100 less horsepower than when we qualified earlier in the day.

“We salvaged the night with a 14th place finish, but we’re not happy with that. Hopefully, Pocono goes good and we can right the ship with our Win-Tron Racing team.”

The 2.5-mile triangle is a favorite of the Bluffton, S.C. native. Last year, the 23-year-old scored back-to-back top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place performance last June.

Confident in his Jamie Jones prepared race cars and carrying confidence despite the early-season mishaps, Dean believes his Mooresville, N.C.-based team can compete for the win in his third Pocono Raceway start.

“Pocono has always been one of my favorite tracks,” he explained. “It’s a rhythm and momentum track for sure – but it’s a track I seem to continue to get better at with more laps under my belt. The speed in our race cars has been phenomenal this season. Unfortunately, we have nothing to show for that. It sure would make things right in the world if we can get a win on Friday afternoon.

“Hopefully, finally the monkey is off our back this weekend at Pocono,” said Dean, driver of the No. 32 GREE Cooling Products | Baker Distributing Chevrolet. “We had a really good car at Pocono but were at the end of the race – fighting for a top-five we had some motor fatigue – which we later found out we were competing over 100 less horsepower than when we qualified earlier in the day.

“We salvaged the night with a 14th place finish, but we’re not happy with that. Hopefully, Pocono goes good and we can right the ship with our Win-Tron Racing team.”

The 2.5-mile triangle is a favorite of the Bluffton, S.C. native. Last year, the 23-year-old scored back-to-back top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place performance last June.

Confident in his Jamie Jones prepared race cars and carrying confidence despite the early-season mishaps, Dean believes his Mooresville, N.C.-based team can compete for the win in his third Pocono Raceway start.

“Pocono has always been one of my favorite tracks,” he explained. “It’s a rhythm and momentum track for sure – but it’s a track I seem to continue to get better at with more laps under my belt. The speed in our race cars has been phenomenal this season. Unfortunately, we have nothing to show for that. It sure would make things right in the world if we can get a win on Friday afternoon.

“Instead of taking Memorial Day off, the guys took our No. 32 GREE Cooling Products | Baker Distributing Chevrolet to dyno machine and were very encouraged with the results. I haven’t seen Kevin this upbeat about going to the race track in a while.

“Hopefully, I can get the job done behind the wheel and we can get some momentum rolling.”

Win-Tron Racing car owner Cywinski says even with the tumultuous start, the team has kept focused knowing they’ve brought six cars capable of winning the first six races of the season. He expects no different in Long Pond.

“Jamie likes the car we’re bringing for Pocono and I expect the test will only give us the track time we need to get Gus dialed in a little more for the race. We can’t predict what’s going to happen, but we’re going tuned to win and I’m confident we can get the job done.”

In 33 career ARCA Racing Series starts, Dean captured his first career victory in his second ever start at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway after starting a career-best second in Apr. 2016. Overall, Dean has eight top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.

The General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 (80 laps | 200 miles) is the seventh of 20 races on the 2018 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. Practice begins Fri., June 1 with an hour and 25-minute practice session from 10:00 a.m. – 11:25 a.m. General Tire pole qualifying is set for later in the day at 2:00 p.m. The race is set to take the green flag later in the day shortly after 5:45 p.m. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 2 (FS2), while ARCARacing.com will stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (Eastern).